John Smedley: The EverQuest President to Join Amazon Game Studios

Amazon, continuing it’s venture into the games industry, has announced that its studio will be led by John Smedley. Smedley is veteran of the industry, unlike the brand new studio, and has led many a franchise presidentially, including EverQuest and Star Wars. As Amazon Game Studios proudly proclaims, Smedley’s work has “helped define the modern MMO, and his influence can be felt in thousands of games that followed. He helped create the blueprint for fusing massive game worlds with vibrant player communities, a vision that we share at Amazon Game Studios.”

That vision, apparently, is continuing the focus on appealing to Amazon’s somewhat newly acquired service, Twitch and the audience there. The company definitely thinks that’s where the action is at, as Smedley’s “team is already hard at work on an ambitious new project that taps into the power of the AWS Cloud and Twitch to connect players around the globe in a thrilling new game world.”

It certainly sounds like we’re going to have another MMO on our hands, though Amazon’s games so far speak more for online combat than a sprawling magical world. The studio has three games to be released soon, Breakaway (a game like Overwatch), New World (something more akin to Civilization than an MMO, though it is defined as such), and Crucible (a game that reminds me of Evolve more than anything else).

What do you think of Amazon’s adventure into the games industry so far? Let us know in the comments below!